Kamala Harris Presents Federal Cannabis Legalization Plan

Vice President Kamala Harris has committed to legalizing cannabis at the federal level in the United States.

If elected, she “will dismantle the unjust legal barriers that prevent Black Americans and others from moving forward by legalizing marijuana nationwide, working with Congress to ensure that the cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is legalized,” Harris’s team stated on Monday.

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The Kamala Harris Plan to Legalize Cannabis in the United States

The first step in Kamala Harris’s cannabis reform plan is to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, legalizing its cultivation, distribution, and possession for adults at the federal level. Currently, cannabis is classified as a Schedule I substance in the U.S., alongside substances like heroin under federal restrictions.

Reclassifying cannabis to a lower category, such as Schedule III, would facilitate cannabis research and create banking opportunities for businesses in the sector. This process is already underway, but the DEA has announced it will issue a decision after the November presidential election.

As Kamala Harris stated in a recent interview with the All the Smoke podcast, “I firmly believe people shouldn’t go to jail for smoking weed. And we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail,” referring to the long history of cannabis criminalization as a tool of systemic racism.

Kamala Harris’s approach is broader as she seeks to galvanize support from Black voters. Her campaign highlights how Black men have historically been disproportionately punished for cannabis use, with higher incarceration rates. Polls have indicated that support for Democrats could weaken among this demographic, prompting Harris to intensify her outreach efforts. The campaign’s “Opportunity Agenda” is designed to resonate with Black voters by addressing broader social and economic inequalities, beyond cannabis.

Cannabis Policy in the Context of National Politics

Kamala Harris’s call for federal cannabis legalization aims to contrast with the previous administration. The campaign has criticized former President Donald Trump for what it describes as “threats of federal prosecution” in states where cannabis is legal. While no large-scale federal crackdown took place, Kamala Harris argues that Trump’s policies contributed to the continued disproportionate enforcement of cannabis laws against Black Americans, which she saw firsthand when she was a prosecutor.

Donald Trump, for his part, has said he only supports reevaluating cannabis as a less restrictive substance under the Controlled Substances Act.

Kamala vs. Trump

In a message posted on social media, Trump stated: “As president, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana by making it a Schedule III drug, and we will work with Congress to pass common-sense laws, including safe banking for state-authorized businesses.”

However, Kamala Harris’s team has accused Trump of flip-flopping on the issue, arguing that his past actions on drug reform do not align with his current statements.

During his presidency, Donald Trump did not take large-scale action against cannabis businesses but remained largely silent on the issue of full federal legalization. And as is often the case with Trump, his responses are vague and don’t commit to much of anything, not even himself.

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(Featured image by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Flickr)

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